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Light for the Journey Online Bible Study
Lesson 6 11.17.08
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Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path. |
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Here's the Plan: Light for the Journey can be completed in one day or over a period of five days ... or even ten days - whatever best fits your schedule. Each day is numbered (ie: Day 1. Facts for the Journey). After completing each day's assignment, proceed to the next day.
Also included are several "extra" sections such as Joy for the Journey, Let's Talk About It,
and Resource of the Week. From time to time, you will also receive special announcements from Mary, coupons for the online store, etc. Below is a brief explanation of each section.
Mind-Set for the Journey: Choose to discard distractions and focus on this time with God.
Facts for the Journey: Study the main biblical facts and principles of the lesson.
Prayer for the Journey: Learn how to pray simply, effectively, powerfully.
Steps for the Journey: Make a specific plan to put feet to or apply the truths you have learned.
Truth for the Journey: Pinpoint the one truth that stood out and impacted you most this week.
Power for the Journey: Memorize one power verse each day. |
Mindset for the Journey
Pray, thanking God for His written Word. Ask Him to reveal the unique message He has for you in the primary passage of Scripture for each study. Read the mindset passage 2 or 3 times. Make the deliberate choice to fix your thoughts on each word and each phrase as you read it. Don't let your mind wander. Focus only on God's truth and let everything else fall away. Your mind is set and you are ready to begin.
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| Philippians 3:20 But our homeland is in heaven, and we are waiting for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come from heaven. |
Day 1. Facts for the Journey
A Glimpse of Heaven
Heaven is a real place, a beautiful place and a city of light without temples, a city that God has prepared for you and for me. We have gotten a glimpse of what heaven looks like on the inside and now we ask the question ... who will be in heaven? First and foremost, Jesus will be there with the angels and all believers.
Before we go any further in this study, let me say that when it comes to the topic of heaven, many bible teachers disagree on the details. What I share with you will be what I believe as I read and understand the bible. The facts with which we can all agree are that heaven is a real place that God has prepared for those who believe in and follow Him.
When believers die, they immediately go to heaven. On the cross, Jesus had a conversation with the thief hanging beside him.
Luke 23:42-43 Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Jesus said to him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."
The apostle Paul often spoke of his desire to be with God.
Philippians 1:23 I'm torn between two desires: Sometimes I want to live, and sometimes I long to go and be with Christ. That would be far better for me!
2 Corinthians 5:8 Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.
When we die, we can say that we have finished the race but we have not finished life. Real life is just beginning in heaven! There we will join every believer from the beginning of time - and we will know them. Yes, I believe we will know each other in heaven. After all, we will have at least as much sense there as we do here. I believe that we will know each other intuitively. In the ninth chapter of Luke, when Moses and Elijah appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter, James and John knew them. How? Moses and Elijah had been dead for a thousand years. The disciples knew them through intuitive knowledge which is a gift from God. I have experienced this intuitive knowledge in my own life. Sometimes, I just know things.
When Dan was a youth pastor, I taught high school girls and often met them for lunch so I could get to know them. One Sunday, I heard one of "my" girls call my name. I spotted her smiling face across the room and watched as she worked her way through the crowd to get to me. In that moment, I knew she was pregnant. "Mary, let's have lunch this week." We made a date to meet and I went to find Dan. On the way home, I told Dan I was having lunch with Gina. "What does she want to talk about?" I looked him in the eye and said, "She wants to tell me that she is pregnant." My life flashed before my eyes as he slammed on the brakes in the middle of a four-lane-highway. "She's what?" he said. "How do you know?" I smiled that smile he has come to know so well over the years and said, "I just know." When Gina and I met for lunch, she told me she was pregnant and needed my help telling her parents. Intuitive knowledge will introduce us to everyone in heaven.
Matthew 8:11 Many people will come from the east and from the west and will sit and eat with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
Fellowship and companionship have always been important to our Father. In heaven, we will sit down with Eve and talk about Eden. We will sit down with Noah and talk about the flood. We will sit down with Moses and talk about the Red Sea. We will sit down with Paul and talk about meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus. People that we have loved and lost here will be there.
A little girl whose baby brother had just died asked her mother where the baby had gone. "To be with Jesus," replied the mother. A few days later while talking with a friend, the mother said, "I am devastated to have lost my baby." The little girl heard her and, remembering what her mother had told her, asked, "Mom, is a thing lost when you know where it is?" "No, of course not," the mother replied. "Then how can our baby be lost when he is with Jesus?" How, indeed? When we get to heaven, will the relationships be the same? No! They will be better and deeper, fuller and complete, without flaw!
I am often asked the question, "Will there be any animals in heaven?" The Bible tells us that the Garden of Eden was filled with animals. Animals have always been an important part of earthly life. Heaven will be a beautiful paradise for every living thing created by the hand of God. I believe that the Word of God is true and literal. Read this beautiful description of heaven from the prophet, Isaiah:
Isaiah 11:6-9 Then wolves will live in peace with lambs, and leopards will lie down to rest with goats. Calves, lions, and young bulls will eat together, and a little child will lead them. Cows and bears will eat together in peace. Their young will lie down to rest together. Lions will eat hay as oxen do. A baby will be able to play near a cobra's hole, and a child will be able to put his hand into the nest of a poisonous snake. They will not hurt or destroy each other on all my holy mountain, because the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the sea is full of water.
The resident list of heaven is impressive, to say the least. Jesus, angels, friends and family and even pets. I want to be there, don't you?
Next week: What will our bodies be like in heaven?
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 Day 2. Prayer for the Journey
Sometimes my heart is so heavy and I know I need to pray but I don't have a clue what to pray for or about. Read Romans 8:26-27 The Bible tells us that God knows our every thought and every word on our tongue which means that even when we don't know the right words to pray, God does. In fact, God sees and hears the desires of the heart and knows our every thought. Women often tell me that they are afraid to pray in public because they don't know what to say and don't want to be embarrassed by saying the wrong thing. I always tell them, "Just remember who you are praying to." There is no secret formula to prayer nor is there any "right" posture for praying. God cares about the posture of your heart. So pray about everything. Remember, if it is important to you, it is important to God.
Prayer is the soul's sincere desire,
Unuttered or expressed,
The motion of a hidden fire
That trembles in the breast. -Montgomery |
Day 3. Steps for the Journey
Hebrews 12:1 We are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
Years ago, I began to keep a record of loved ones who have gone to heaven before me. I call them my "Balcony People." The picture we find in Hebrews 12:1 is somewhat like a football stadium where the people in the stands are cheering for their team. It can be compared to family and friends watching the game of life as they peer over the balcony of heaven. There are times when I can almost hear the people in my balcony say, "Don't give up. Keep going!"
In your journal, create a section for your balcony people. Record Hebrews 12:1 at the top of the first page and then begin your list. When life is hard and you are discouraged, remember that all of heaven is cheering you on. |
Day 4. Truth for the journey
Read Deuteronomy 4:39. How does this verse describe God's position and authority on earth and in heaven?
Read Psalm 14:2. What does God look for in the heart of man? How does that heart attitude relate to or affect our citizenship in heaven?
Read Matthew 6:20 How does this verse apply to our earthly possessions? Are they important? What kind of treasures will be waiting for us in heaven? How are they stored there? Read back over this week's lesson and pinpoint one new truth and relate it to the truths of the above verses. Write the truth in your own words in your journal. How has your perspective of heaven changed since beginning this study? Explain.
*Click on underlined bible references to read verses. |
 Day 5. Power for the Journey
God's Word is our greatest source of power and strength for living. Listed below are five verses. Memorize one verse each day. Create a section in your journal to record those verses that impacted your life most.
Romans 8:26 And when we don't know what to pray for, the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Matthew 5:12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven ...
2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Isaiah 49:13 Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; burst into song, O mountains! For the LORD comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones. | |
Need help? Got a question? Let's talk!
Q: I am having problems with forgiveness. I have been a Christian for over five years now. I pray and confess my sins but when I ask God to forgive me I still feel guilty. Why?
A: I think we all face this same issue at times. When you accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, God promised that He would never stop forgiving you, no matter what you do wrong. 1 John 1:7 says, But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. That means God not only forgives us but continues to forgive us and to purify us while we are trying to live the Christian life. Colossians 1:22 says, He has done this through the death on the cross of His own human body, and now as a result Christ has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are standing before Him with nothing left against you-nothing left that He could even chide you for (TLB). God said that we are completely forgiven because Jesus paid the penalty for our sins when He died on the cross. God wants you to know you are forgiven, but Satan wants you to feel guilty. Revelation 12:10 describes Satan as an accuser of our brothers. You must choose to believe his lies or God's truths.
God is an awesome God! Because you believe in Christ and have accepted what He did for you, God sees you as completely pure and holy, without any faults. You cannot trust your feelings but you can trust God's Word. And there is where you have to put your faith - in the facts revealed in the Bible and not in your feelings.
So when you have feelings of guilt and there's no basis for that guilt, go back to the facts. Those facts tell you that you are loved by God, completely pure and holy through Jesus Christ and constantly cleansed by the Heavenly Father. Count on that!
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Joy for the Journey 